The Art of Project Management By Scott Berkun Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: April 2005 ISBN: 0-596-00786-8 Pages: 392 Table of Contents | Index "'The Art of Project Management' covers it all from practical methods for making sure work gets done right and on time, to the mindset that can make you a great leader motivating your team to do their best Reading this was like reading the blueprint for how the best projects are managed at Microsoft I wish we always put these lessons into action!" Joe Belfiore, General Manager, E-home Division, Microsoft Corporation "Berkun has written a fast paced, jargon-free and witty guide to what he wisely refers to as the 'art' of project management It's a great introduction to the discipline Seasoned and new managers will benefit from Berkun's perspectives." Joe Mirza, Director, CNET Networks (Cnet.com) "Most books with the words 'project management' in the title are dry tomes If that's what you are expecting to hear from Berkun's book, you will be pleasantly surprised Sure, it's about project management But it's also about creativity, situational problem-solving, and leadership If you're a team member, project manager, or even a non-technical stakeholder, Scott offers dozens of practical tools and techniques you can use, and questions you can ask, to ensure your projects succeed." Bill Bliss, Senior VP of product and customer experience, expedia.com In The Art of Project Management, you'll learn from a veteran manager of software and web development how to plan, manage and lead projects This personal account of hard lessons learned over a decade of work in the industry distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice Inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, this is the book you and your team need to have within arms reach It will serve you well with your current work, and on future projects to come Topics include: How to make things happen Making good decisions Specifications and requirements Ideas and what to do with them How not to annoy people Leadership and trust The truth about making dates What to do when things go wrong The Art of Project Management By Scott Berkun Publisher: O'Reilly Pub Date: April 2005 ISBN: 0-596-00786-8 Pages: 392 Table of Contents | Index Copyright Preface Who should read this book Assumptions I've made about you in writing this book How to use this book Chapter One A brief history of project management (and why you should care) Section 1.1 Using history Section 1.2 Web development, kitchens, and emergency rooms Section 1.3 The role of project management Section 1.4 Program and project management at Microsoft Section 1.5 The balancing act of project management Section 1.6 Pressure and distraction Section 1.7 The right kind of involvement Section 1.8 Summary Part I: Plans Chapter Two The truth about schedules Section 2.1 Schedules have three purposes Section 2.2 Silver bullets and methodologies Section 2.3 What schedules look like Section 2.4 Why schedules fail Section 2.5 What must happen for schedules to work Section 2.6 Summary Chapter Three How to figure out what to do Section 3.1 Software planning demystified Section 3.2 Approaching plans: the three perspectives Section 3.3 The magical interdisciplinary view Section 3.4 Asking the right questions Section 3.5 Catalog of common bad ways to decide what to do Section 3.6 The process of planning Section 3.7 Customer research and its abuses Section 3.8 Bringing it all together: requirements Chapter Four Writing the good vision Section 4.1 The value of writing things down Section 4.2 How much vision do you need? Section 4.3 The five qualities of good visions Section 4.4 The key points to cover Section 4.5 On writing well Section 4.6 Drafting, reviewing, and revising Section 4.7 A catalog of lame vision statements (which should be avoided) Section 4.8 Examples of visions and goals Section 4.9 Visions should be visual Section 4.10 The vision sanity check: daily worship Section 4.11 Summary Chapter Five Where ideas come from Section 5.1 The gap from requirements to solutions Section 5.2 There are bad ideas Section 5.3 Thinking in and out of boxes is OK Section 5.4 Good questions attract good ideas Section 5.5 Bad ideas lead to good ideas Section 5.6 Perspective and improvisation Section 5.7 The customer experience starts the design Section 5.8 A design is a series of conversations Section 5.9 Summary Chapter Six What to do with ideas once you have them Section 6.1 Ideas get out of control Section 6.2 Managing ideas demands a steady hand Section 6.3 Checkpoints for design phases Section 6.4 How to consolidate ideas Section 6.5 Prototypes are your friends Section 6.6 Questions for iterations Section 6.7 The open-issues list Section 6.8 Summary Part II: Skills Chapter Seven Writing good specifications Section 7.1 What specifications can and cannot do Section 7.2 Deciding what to specify Section 7.3 Specifying is not designing Section 7.4 Who, when, and how Section 7.5 When are specs complete? Section 7.6 Reviews and feedback Section 7.7 Summary Chapter Eight How to make good decisions Section 8.1 Sizing up a decision (what's at stake) Section 8.2 Finding and weighing options Section 8.3 Information is a flashlight Section 8.4 The courage to decide Section 8.5 Paying attention and looking back Section 8.6 Summary Chapter Nine Communication and relationships Section 9.1 Management through conversation Section 9.2 A basic model of communication Section 9.3 Common communication problems Section 9.4 Projects depend on relationships Section 9.5 The best work attitude Section 9.6 Summary Chapter Ten How not to annoy people: process, email, and meetings Section 10.1 A summary of why people get annoyed Section 10.2 The effects of good process Section 10.3 Non-annoying email Section 10.4 How to run the non-annoying meeting Section 10.5 Summary Chapter Eleven What to do when things go wrong Section 11.1 Apply the rough guide Section 11.2 Common situations to expect Section 11.3 Take responsibility Section 11.4 Damage control Section 11.5 Conflict resolution and negotiation Section 11.6 Roles and clear authority Section 11.7 An emotional toolkit: pressure, feelings about feelings, and the hero complex Section 11.8 Summary Part III: Management Chapter Twelve Why leadership is based on trust Section 12.1 Building and losing trust Section 12.2 Make trust clear (create green lights) Section 12.3 The different kinds of power Section 12.4 Trusting others Section 12.5 Trust is insurance against adversity Section 12.6 Models, questions, and conflicts Section 12.7 Trust and making mistakes Section 12.8 Trust in yourself (self-reliance) Section 12.9 Summary Chapter Thirteen How to make things happen Section 13.1 Priorities make things happen Section 13.2 Things happen when you say no Section 13.3 Keeping it real Section 13.4 Know the critical path Section 13.5 Be relentless Section 13.6 Be savvy Section 13.7 Summary Chapter Fourteen Middle-game strategy Section 14.1 Flying ahead of the plane Section 14.2 Taking safe action Section 14.3 The coding pipeline Section 14.4 Hitting moving targets Section 14.5 Summary Chapter Fifteen End-game strategy Section 15.1 Big deadlines are just several small deadlines Section 15.2 Elements of measurement Section 15.3 Elements of control Section 15.4 The end of end-game Section 15.5 Party time Section 15.6 Summary Chapter Sixteen Power and politics Section 16.1 The day I became political Section 16.2 The sources of power Section 16.3 The misuse of power Section 16.4 How to solve political problems Section 16.5 Know the playing field Section 16.6 Summary Notes Chapter One Chapter Two Chapter Three Chapter Four Chapter Five Chapter Six Chapter Seven Chapter Eight Chapter Nine Chapter Ten Chapter Eleven Chapter Twelve Chapter Thirteen Chapter Fourteen Chapter Fifteen Chapter Sixteen Annotated Bibliography Philosophy and strategy Psychology History Management and politics Science, engineering, and architecture Software process and methodology Acknowledgments Photo Credits Colophon About the Author Colophon Index The Art of Project Management by Scott Berkun Copyright © 2005 O'Reilly Media, Inc All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America Published by O'Reilly Media, Inc., 1005 Gravenstein Highway North Sebastopol, CA 95472 O'Reilly books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use Online editions are also available for most titles (safari.oreilly.com) For more information, contact our corporate/institutional sales department: (800) 998-9938 or corporate@oreilly.com Editor: Mike Hendrickson Production Editor: Marlowe Shaeffer MENDEDESIGN, Cover Designer: www.mendedesign.com Interior Designer: Marcia Friedman Art Director: Michele Wetherbee Printing History: April 2005: First Edition The O'Reilly logo is a registered trademark of O'Reilly Media, Inc Many of the designationsused by manufacturers and sellers to distinguish their products are claimed as trademarks Where those designations appear in this book, and O'Reilly Media, Inc was aware of a trademark claim, the designations have been printed in caps or initial caps While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher and author assume no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein ISBN: 0-596-00786-8 [C] [7/05] Preface My favorite word in the English language is how How does this work? How was this made? How did they do this? Whenever I see something interesting happen, I'm filled with questions that involve this small but powerful little word And most of the answers I find center on how people apply their own intelligence and wisdom, rather than their knowledge of specific technologies or theories Over years of building things and comparing my experiences to those of other managers, programmers, and designers, I've developed beliefs and conclusions about how to manage projects well This book is a summation of those ideas It includes approaches for leading teams, working with ideas, organizing projects, managing schedules, dealing with politics, and making things happen, even in the face of great challenges Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Z] war team waterfall model (software development) web development, challenges of web site for this book weekly triage weekly/monthly questions for staying ahead "What do we need to do?", answering "What problem are you trying to solve?" work best work, getting from others asking for best work challenging/making demands clearing roadblocks follow advice inspiring reminding of project goals reminding of respective roles teaching helping others do their best work attitude (best) work breakdown structure (WBS) aggressive pipelining versus developing and documenting work items distribution across the team prioritizing with ordered lists work-item lists writing skills (project manager) writing things down, value of writing well keeping it simple non-annoying email one primary writer tips for good specifications volume vs quality Index [A] [B] [C] [D] [E] [F] [G] [H] [I] [K] [L] [M] [N] [O] [P] [Q] [R] [S] [T] [U] [V] [W] [Z] zero sum resource, team productivity as ... history of civilization, we have thousands of years of project experience to learn from A dotted line can be drawn from the software developers of today back through time to the builders of the Egyptian pyramids or the architects of the Roman... informally, on any kind of project The examples are from software development, but many concepts apply easily to other kinds of work You might be the official team leader, or simply one of the more experienced people on the team... Program and project management at Microsoft Section 1.5 The balancing act of project management Section 1.6 Pressure and distraction Section 1.7 The right kind of involvement Section 1.8 Summary Part I: